Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-03-02
THE PARTISAN CATACOMBS.

THE PARTISAN CATACOMBS.
A new form of amusement has brok-
en- out in the regions of the best Paris
ian society. 1t consists of visits 10
the catacombs and comprises whole
day and evenings entertainment.
The catacombs, in the course of their
existence, have been the object of
much curiosity and the Mecca OF
many pilgrims, but of late years they
have been pretty vigorously closed
to the public and entered only at the
expense of a great deal of red tape
and caution. A few days ago, how
ever, dozen or more carriages
drew up at the Barrier d'Enfer, the
main entrance to the catacombs,
and a score or more of ladies, &C
companied by a squad of clubmen
and artists, got out, armed with the
necessary permissions and all things
used in an underground research.
These consisted of immense torches
borne by each member of the party.
Now, the catacombs of Paris are not
catacombs atall in the ordinary sense
of the term. They were not excava-
ted by jealous Christians in the early
century for place to worship in and
bestoW the dead. They were dug by
enterprising capitalists in search of
gypsum, with which the Partisan
hills and soil abound. A hundred
years ago the excavations were very
great and extended under many Of
the principal streets and buildings.
At one time it became necessary to
prop up the streets from below to
prevent general collapse of import
ant parts of the city. Eventually
the ancient cemeteries of the city
were abandoned, the remains taken
up and tumbled into the quarries in
heaps, the only discrimination shown
being in keeping separate the re-
mains of different cemeteries. No
two graveyards were mixed up, but
the individual bones in each ceme-
terry were thrown together promiscu-
ously. AS years passed the quarries
became more and more useful as a
depository of human remains, and
some order was shown in the inter-
ment. Throughout the long galleries
the skeletons are piled up regularly
against the wall, the bones of arms
and legs forming the outside of the
piles, the other bones being thrown
behind them, except the skulls;
these are arranged in horizontal
rows at regular intervals, there being
usually three rows Of skulls along
each tier. At these interesting and
cheerful relics of the past the bevy
of ladies and their fashionable es-
corts gazed during several hours
spent in traversing the underground
galleries. There are upwards Of
three millions Of skeletons packed
away in the catacombs, and room for
a great many more than that is left.
It is not probable that the ladies
saw them all. They were led by
a real countess, and when they
emerged from the charnel place they
sought the nearest restaurant, where
they bewildered the proprietor with
the number and variety of their
orders, and astonished the neighbor-
hood by the richness and elegance
of their dresses. The evenings part
of the entertainment was a dinner
and talking-it-all-over time at the
residence of the countess. We shall
probably have more of these excur-
sions now that the example has been
we'll set.
CURIOUS CENTRAL AFRICAN PEOPLES.
The Rev. T. #. Comber, a Baptist
missionary has given to the Royal
Geographical Society an account oil his
voyage, in company with the Rev.
George Grenfell and in the missiona-
ry steamer Peace. up the Congo to
the Bangala, and up the Bochini
to the junction of the KWango. The
width of the river, from Stanley Pool
to the Bochini, varies from twelve
hundred yards to two miles. 1t is
swift and strong, and navigation mas
to be performed carefully, on account
ofup-cropping feldspathic rocks. An
interesting feature of the first days
sail was the little clusters of huts on
the sand-banks in twos, fours, and
skies, inhabited by Ba-Buma people,
who sold beer and caught fish. The
people are ruled by a Queen, Nga
Nkabe, whose husband, or "Prince
consort," Nchielo, "knows his place,
and sits quietly by smoking his pipe
meekly and philosophically, while
his wife rules" She is tall, brawny,
and dignified, and about fifty years
old, but "did not seem to think it
beneath her to take her paddle, and
entering into her little canoe with
another woman, to 60 herself to cut
US a bunch of plantains." Her great
desire was to possess a double-bar-
relied gun, and she was evidently
pleased with present of cloths, big
bell, soldiers great-coat and some
brass. The Ba-Buma were the best
specimens of the Africans encounter
ed on the journey. The women wear
brass collars weighing from twenty
five to thirty pounds. The most
primitive people seen by the travel
ers were the Ikelemba. about the
great Ruki River, who 60 about with
bow and arrow, or spears and shield,
or a murderous sacrificial knife,
wearing hats made Of monkey skins,
of which the head Of the animal
comes to the front of their heads,
while the tail hangs down behind.
They are cruel, ingeniously cruel,
and indulge among other amuse-
ments in chasing their human vic
tins across the country as our hunt
ers would chase a fox. Another ex-
ercise of their braves is intiicting
"death by the knife" in which the
head of the victim is so adjusted
that, when it is cut off by a blow of
a sickle-shaped knife, it is tossed by
the spring of sapling high into the
air. In strange contrast with these
revolving practices was "a pretty lit
tie performance by children, lasting
several hours, and consisting, first, of
clever dancing, and then Of little
bit of operate acting, after the style
of a Greek play, the chorus part of
which was very prettily rendered by
little girl from eight to twelve years
old."-Popular Science Monthly.
ABOUT DRESS.
There is probably no subject which
so much engages the thoughts Of
young women even of Christian young
women as that of dress. If there Is